On 22–23 March 2012, the RSIS Centre for NTS Studies hosted a closed Expert Working Group Meeting to discuss the ongoing call for Singapore to consider hosting an international rice futures market. Key points for discussion were the feasibility of such a market in current international rice market conditions, the suitability of Singapore as potential host, and the potential impact of an international rice futures market on regional food security. » Read more
Migration and displacement are among the range of pressures on people and their communities likely to arise from the economic, social and environmental consequences of climate change. Despite fragmented data, the climate security literature has focused on the potential for climate change-induced migration to trigger social tensions and conflicts within states and across borders. » Read more
This Dissemination Meeting, held on 28-29 November 2011, aimed to showcase the research outcomes of the MacArthur Foundation's Asia Security Initiative projects and to share the findings to a wider policy community and civil society. Over the course of 3 years (2009–11), both centres have, under the MacArthur Asia Security Initiative, conducted research on non-traditional security (internal and cross-border conflict; climate change, environmental security and natural disasters; as well as energy and human security) and regional security cooperation. » Read more
Indonesia faces pronounced land-use challenges. The sprawling archipelagic state must deal with the legacies of short-sighted land conversions, the need to pursue foreign investment, capital growth and employment generation through profitable land intensive industries, and the rising food demands of a growing and increasingly urban population. Moreover, Indonesia must pursue these already daunting objectives without overly compromising its endowment of forest resources; which provide a range of valuable services both domestically and internationally. » Read more
Existing work on energy security tends to overemphasise the prospect of competition and conflict over resources while under-exploring the promise of cooperation among global and regional economies. Viewing energy security through the spectre of armed conflict traps policy planners in a zero-sum analysis, which strongly suggests that the energy security of one country can only be achieved at the expense of another. Yet such a conclusion is fundamentally flawed, since it ignores the increasingly complex interdependence in the energy and product trade chain among countries, globally and regionally. » Read more
Understandings of what constitutes international security have been largely influenced by the historical experiences of the great powers. The failed attempts to prevent war in Europe from the 17th century onwards, and latterly the more successful (in its own terms) prevention of a third World War in the second half of the 20th century, did much to establish what was to be secured and how this security could best be achieved. » Read more
This paper seeks to identify and assess key climate insecurities in Indonesia and further explore how they could potentially influence the process of defence reform that has been ongoing in Indonesia since Suharto's downfall in 1998. Key climate insecurities in Indonesia are related to energy and food security, large-scale disasters, drought, changing climate patterns and rising sea levels. Furthermore, this paper argues that given these security implications, the Indonesian National Defence Forces (TNI) has yet to seriously assess and incorporate climate change into its force development plans. » Read more
Welcome to the website for cluster 3 of the MacArthur Asia Security Initiative. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has committed US$68 million over 7 years, beginning in 2009, to increase the effectiveness of international cooperation in fostering peace and security in Asia. Twenty-seven international research institutions have been selected to take part in this initiative. Due to the diversity of security issues that will be studied under the initiative, as well as the number of institutions involved, research under the initiative has been divided into 3 research clusters according to individual institution research agendas. The research themes of the respective research clusters are as follows:
Research Themes of the MacArthur Asia Security Initiative
Cluster 1: Regional Security Cooperation;
Cluster 2: Northeast Asia Security and;
Cluster 3: Internal Challenges.
The MacArthur Foundation has selected The S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), through the leadership of the RSIS Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies, as a core institution to head and lead research in cluster 3, internal challenges. As a core institution, the RSIS Centre for NTS Studies will lead a cluster of 7 research institutes (our partners) and spearhead research on non-traditional security issues facing Asia. These issues include climate change, environment and human security, energy security, as well as internal conflicts (further details on these areas of research can be found on the pages of this website under Research Programmes).
In order to achieve this, the RSIS Centre for NTS Studies has received US$2.2 million from the MacArthur Foundation over the next 3 years to conduct research in the area of non-traditional security for cluster 3. The grant given to the Centre is the largest received among the 27 grantee research institutes under the ASI. The Centre also had the distinct honour of co-organising the Official Launch of the MacArthur Foundation Asia Security Initiative held on 29 May 2009, in Singapore.
In his keynote address given at the launch, ASEAN Secretary-General, Dr Surin Pitsuwan welcomed the initiative, saying that it “is helping us ask and define that question of how to manage security challenges in a flat world where barriers and borders used to protect us.”
Echoing similar sentiments was RSIS Dean Barry Desker, who noted that the initiative is “a significant endorsement of the importance of Asian security issues and recognition of its considerable implications for the world at large.”
The grant will also give the RSIS Centre for NTS Studies access to “cutting-edge research to respond to challenges that affect both the well-being as well as the security of states and societies in the region”, he added.
About RSIS
Since its establishment in 1996, the RSIS has become a renowned research and teaching institute in Asia in the fields of international studies and international security. With its track record as the nucleus of epistemic communities in Asia, RSIS has addressed the imperatives of finding innovative responses to recognized and emerging security challenges through its cutting-edge research and extensive experience in providing critical input into policy debates.
About RSIS Centre for NTS Studies
Since 1999, the RSIS has successfully conducted and managed a programme on Non-Traditional Security (NTS). The programme aims at increasing awareness of a range of NTS challenges that threaten the well-being and security of states and societies in Asia, and the need to develop regional institutional capabilities to respond to these challenges. Its key projects have combined conceptual innovation, empirical research, and policy-relevant analysis and findings.
With the growing interest on NTS issues in the region, the RSIS established the Consortium on Non-TraditionalSecurity Studies in Asia (NTS-Asia) in January 2007, which brings together 14 research institutes and think-tanks from Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and South Asia. The Consortium, which is led by RSIS, under the guidance of the RSIS Center for NTS Studies aims to further develop the process of networking and consolidate existing research on NTS-related issues, as well as to mainstream and push ahead the field of Non-Traditional Security in Asia. The Centre also serves as the secretariat for the Consortium.
The upgrading of the RSIS-NTS programme to a Centre, therefore, marks yet another milestone for the study of NTS in RSIS. It is with this history and research capacity that the RSIS Centre for NTS studies spearheads cluster 3 of the MacArthur Asia Security Initiative.
This website will serve to highlight, collate, distribute and connect research and researchers produced by and affiliated with the 7 institutions in cluster 3. We will provide news for the latest ideas associated with research from our cluster through the findings of the 7 institutions and their published work.Read our blog for real-time commentary from cluster experts.
